Witnesses described seeing one victim pulled out of the rubble of the two-storey loft conversation which suffered a “pancake collapse”.

Emergency services remain at the scene which burned long into the night after the blast yesterday night at 7pm.

This morning police revealed four people have been killed, with four others in hospital, and added there could be more people unaccounted for buried in the rubble.

Devastation as explosion levels shop killing four in Leicester

A gas explosion that happened on Sunday evening is a shop in Leicester has sadly killed four people.

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Aerial view of the wreckage, after a gas explosion in Leicester

“I saw one guy get pulled out and he'll be very lucky if he wasn't killed”

John Alexander

Video taken from a nearby CCTV camera shows a lick of flame visible as the blast tears apart the building.

Bricks an rubble are seen being propelled into the road as two cars passing brake hard to avoid the blast.

Moments after this short clip – the ruins of the building became a raging inferno.

One witness told the Leicester Mercury: “It’s absolute devastation. I’ve never seen anything like it in my entire life.

“There was a huge bang, then loads of smoke, and then in just a minute or two the whole site was engulfed in flames and you could hear sirens."

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EXPLOSION: The shop in Hinckley Road, Leicester, was levelled by the blast on Sunday

Speaking to Sky News, witness Kat Pattinson, who lives on the same road as the fire, told how her "whole house shook" when the blast happened.

She added: "We checked on our children first and foremost and then we went outside.

"There is just an awful lot of smoke here at the moment and the whole area is cordoned off."

Local journalist John Alexander said: "I felt a tremor, what felt like an earthquake shock and I heard a very low boom that sounded like a very, very fast release of pressure.

"I thought my house was going to fall down on top of me and all my neighbours have said the same thing.

"I saw one guy get pulled out and he'll be very lucky if he wasn't killed."

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LEICESTER: Firefighters remain on the scene amid fears there could be more victims

And witness Tahir Khan said: "I was driving past when it happened.

"Loads of people were gathered and there was gas and flames coming out of the building.

"I looked on the road and half the building was on the road. Literally the whole of the side of the building had been blown out.

"I couldn't believe it, it was like a Hollywood movie."

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FIREFIGHTERS: Crews battled the inferno long into the night after the explosion in Leicester

Fire chief Matt Crane said firefighters would be on the site for "a number of days” and added it was "still too early to say" what caused the explosion.

There was the potential for further collapse, and buildings on either side have sustained damage, he said.

He said: "On arrival there was a significant fire and significant building collapse, reports of numerous people possibly trapped within the building so crews have worked throughout the night to extinguish the fire.

"We now have got specialist search and rescue teams supported by search dogs on scene. We are trying to locate any further casualties that may be in the building. We still think this is a rescue phase of the operation.

"We are now working to get into different areas of the building using shoring techniques to see if we can locate anybody that may be alive in the building."